Weekend Cocktails: June 13-15

This weekend is a collection of interesting days: Friday the Thirteenth, followed by Flag Day and wrapping up with Father’s Day on Sunday. As a nod to each, we’re offering up three cocktail recipes to make this weekend one to remember. Enjoy!

Friday Happy Hour: Boo! It’s Friday the Thirteenth!

Watch out for black cats and avoid breaking any mirrors today because it's Friday the Thirteenth. For this cocktail, we’re embracing the day's spooky spirit with a sip that has a name built to scare: the Zombie.

The first Zombie recipe came by way of Don the Beachcomber in 1934 and was a menagerie of liquors and mixes sure to hit imbibers hard. As the 1950s—the golden age of cocktail culture—ushered in the tiki craze, the Zombie became a mainstay of bamboo-accented bars everywhere. Incorporating some of Don the Beachcomber's more unconventional ingredients, this cocktail recipe will help you get through any Friday the Thirteenth frights.

Stir all ingredients except 151 and pour into a Collins or Zombie glass half full of cracked ice. Float 151 on top. For a theatrical presentation, light the drink on fire; for a more conventional one, garnish with a lemon or pineapple wedge and maraschino cherries.

Saturday is for Patriots: It’s Flag Day

We’re celebrating the stars and stripes Saturday but shying away from the overly sweet red, white and blue cocktails concocted grenadine, crème de cacao and Blue Curacao. To do so, we’ll sip on the sophisticated Americano cocktail.

Once known as the Milano-Torino for its 1:1 blend of vermouth (Cinzano, Milan) and Campari (Turin), the name gradually switched to—and has since stuck with—Americano because of its popularity with American expats during Prohibition.

Although Campari can be bitter to some, this cocktail is perfect for sipping on hot afternoons, which Saturday is destined to be.

Mix ingredients directly in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice-cubes. Add a splash of soda water and garnish with an orange slice.

Sunday Funday: Happy Father’s Day

This Father’s Day, we’re toasting to dad with raising a glass to dad with the Papa Doble, also known as the Hemingway Daiquiri. A nod to Ernest Hemingway (right), this cocktail stems from the original daiquiri, a concoction of rum, lime juice and simple syrup created by an American mining engineer while imbibing at a beach bar aptly named Daiquirí near Santiago, Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The simple cocktail became a favorite of famous Americans like President John F. Kennedy and helped usher in a new wave of rum popularity in the 1940s during World War II. (President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy made rum easily obtainable compared to rationed whiskey and vodka).

Hemingway’s version of the rum-forward cocktail took hold while the gruff writer held court at Havana’s El Floridita in the 1940s and '50s. Below is the official recipe by way of the International Bartenders’ Association.